The Grand Tour

Everything We Know About The Next Grand Tour Episode: A 2,000KM European Road Trip

The Grand Tour released its latest episode, The Scandi Flick, to hugely positive reviews, and now fans of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May are eager to know when the next episode will air and what it will involve.

Three months ago, The Grand Tour team returned from Europe after a long stint of filming. Travelling from Poland to Slovenia, the trio drove 2,000km to bring us what looks to be the best episode so far.

With the latest episode now over and fans revelling in the memories, I thought I’d explore everything we know about the upcoming European special from the cars they drive, to the planes they fly.

Where and Where Did They Start Filming?

Gdansk, Poland

 

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Clarkson, Hammond, and May left from Oxford International Airport on June 19th on a private jet. They landed in Gdansk, Poland soon after, where their journey began.

Here, they joined their three cars, a Chevrolet SSR, a Crosley Convertible, and a Mitsuoka Le-Seyde which they took to Długia Street. According to Google Maps, this is completely pedestrianised, but according to local reports, the filming was done under secrecy with not even the local law enforcement knowing about the team and their plans.

This area is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city leading from the Golden Gate to Długi Targ square. It looks like the trio drove the length of this, as well as around the post-shipyard areas, the port, and Westerplatte.

This is where our assumptions begin. Gdansk is home to where the first gunshots of World War II were shot, and this theme continues to a few of the locations the team travels to later in the week of filming.

Before they left the city, a hot rod based on a 1959 Ford Popular was also spotted. This will become more prevalent later on.

Did The Grand Tour Travel to Ukraine?

It was a couple of days into filming where fans started wondering if The Grand Tour was heading to Ukraine. As we know, Jeremy has been very passionate about supporting the people of Ukraine since the war with Russia started, so at this point it wasn’t such a stretch, especially when Jeremy showed his support of driving armoured vehicles into the country on Twitter.

As we now know, the team didn’t make it to Ukraine. Instead, they traveled South-West.

Zielona Gora – The Grand Tour Visits Vineyards

We followed the trio as they traveled to Zielona Gora, a city in the Lubusz province of the country. It’s known for its endless vineyards so it wouldn’t be a surprise if we see Clarkson, Hammond and May tasting some wine at this point of the episode.

It also has connections to WWII, with it being reported that 30% of the city had been damaged by the Germans.

Richard Hammond Crashes At Tor Poznań Racetrack

Continuing West, the trio were spotted at a racetrack. I did some investigation work and figures out that this was the Tor Poznań racetrack in the city of Poznan. The track almost became part of the F1 calendar in the ’80s thanks to its connection to Polish F1 driver Robert Kubica, but this never came to fruition.

This didn’t stop Clarkson, Hammond and May from driving some open-wheeled race cars around the track. As you heard, Richard Hammond lived up to his antics and crashed into a barrier. He was unhurt but the car sustained a little front-end damage. According to our sources, this was caused by the engine seizing. Hammond was seen next to the wreck in a racing suit with May stood next to him looking a bit disappointed in his fellow presenter.

Judging from a photo of Jeremy with a stop watch hung around his neck, it looks like they were doing timed laps here.

James May Breaks Down

As the trio headed from Poznan to Lower Silesia, Hammond’s bad luck was passed to James May as his Crosley broke down. We don’t know what happened to the car, but it was pushed onto the back of a trailer as May waited for a replacement.

What was that replacement? The hot rod, of course.

The Grand Tour Visits a German Concentration Camp

Next stop: Jeremy posted a photo to his Instagram account of Stalag Luft 3, a German concentration camp in the town of town of Sagan, Lower Silesia. This continues the WWII theme and should act as a sobering moment in the episode. Around this time the team also visited Krakow.

Leaving The Country and Entering Slovakia

After a brief drive through Czechia, the trio was seen driving through Slovakia, the country where there are the most cars produced per capita. Here they visited Patak Motors who showed the presenters their car, the Roadster.

Jeremy Clarkson Drives The Skoda 1100 OHC Spider

Still in Slovakia, Jeremy gets into the driver’s seat of a Skoda 1100 OHC Spider, which he describes as “absolutely fantastic”, at Piešťany Airport. At the same time, James May was spotted driving the KleinVision AirCar.

The Road To The Finale

The trio continue their travels through Bratislava where they go cycling by the Danube River before continuing to Hungary, and eventually Slovenia.

Slovenia, The Final Destination Of The Grand Tour European Special

Here, Clarkson and Hammond were spotted on Lake Bled without May in the northwest of Slovenia in the Julian Alps. Again, we don’t quite know what they were doing, but they were seen rowing a boat onto the lake before Hammond stood up, rocking the boat.

Despite this being an incredibly popular area for tourists, barely any footage from around the area was taken which is a shame.

Jeremy Clarkson On The Release Date Of The European Special In Interview

Soon after, Clarkson and Hammond were interviewed by Radio 1 Slovenia in what seemed to be the most awkward interview I’ve ever watched, but Jeremy gives a brief outline of the trip.

He describes it as a “2,200 kilometer drive from Gdansk at the top of Poland. All the way down to Krakow, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and then here.” He then admits that it’ll be six months before we see the episode on Amazon Prime.

The Grand Tour Filming Comes To An End

A day later, a video was posted by Jeremy of the team celebrating the two weeks of filming coming to an end. Jeremy, Richard, and James were joined by what looked to be the whole team, as well as producer Andy Wilman playing air guitar.

It looks like lots of fun was had, as well as lots of gin.

Producer Andy Wilman on The Episode

“It’s richer, there’s more to do. Russia is barren, so you can’t find as much nonsense to do,” Wilman said in an interview with Grand Tour Nation and other press.

“An ice lake with a racetrack on it, the skiers, those kinds of things that we did in this film, that wasn’t going to come our way in Russia, so it did give us more content being where we were.

“Submarine base tunnels? With the best will in the world, I can’t imagine the Russians going, ‘Yes, help yourselves’, so it did come good on that front.”

Richard Hammond On the Episode

“I think it worked out even better,” he said in an interview with Grand Tour Nation and other press.

“We sort of revelled in the landscape more. We know that part of the world, we’ve filmed there before, so to connect those places up was great.

“Scandinavia is one of those places we’ve returned to many times over the years, like South Africa, Australia, and bits of Germany. Some places that just ‘get’ us, and always have.”

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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